Day 15: The End of the Coast to Coast

September 8, 2024: Surprisingly, it did not rain during the night. The condensation on the tent was bad, but I was glad to see that this time there was no condensation inside the tent.

However, the forecast still called for rain all day, and since it wasn't raining at the moment, I figured it was best to get an early start and knock out as many miles as I could before it started. I can't say that the weather looked particularly rainy--it was simply foggy. Fog that was thick enough to cut with a knife.

Lots of thick fog today!

 

The trail went up and and down hills. Through towns and farms like normal, but also through some sort of nature reserve which I found quite nice even if the fog gave it a horror-story eeriness.

A couple of hours into the day's hike, I was happy to note that the rain still hadn't started, but I still felt wet from all the fog. Everything just felt damp and condensation was still forming on everything--including my pack!

Eventually I reached The Honesty Shop--that's the name they gave it, not me--basically a bigger version of the honesty shed which was located in a caravan. I poked my head in to look around and take some photos.  A 5 or 10 minute break would be nice as well.

The back of the caravan had pink and white pillows and frills that seemed like something from the set a cheap porno movie, or perhaps the Madonna Inn for those of you familiar with that. =)

The Honesty Shop!

The place really was a full-featured shop! They even provided firewood for hikers who stopped to camp here. I grabbed a couple of snacks from my pack to eat. I might have been tempted to grab something from the shop except that I only had 20-pound bills in cash and no way to break it, but that's okay. No reason to spend money when I could just finish up the snacks in my pack!

While I was snacking, the rain finally started. For a couple of minutes, it was a light sprinkle, then it suddenly came down in a torrential downpour! Biblical! The rain pounded the roof of the caravan like someone was dropping golf balls on it--thousands and thousands of them. It was deafening! Looking out the door, I decided to hang out a bit longer. I didn't really expect the rain to stop, but surely it couldn't continue at this ferocious rate all day!

I pulled out my phone and killed time by watching movies and shows that I had downloaded earlier, which I did for the next hour and a half before the rain finally let up and eventually stopped completely.

When the show finished, I put my shoes back on and headed out. The end was near!

The trail soon reached the edge of a high cliff. Allegedly, the North Sea was at the bottom of it, but the fog was too thick to see anything more than 30 feet away. I could hear waves crashing on the shore just below, but I couldn't see a thing.

Allegedly, the North Sea was just behind this sign, but I couldn't see it! But take a look at that sign.... I don't think the man on that sign is in mortal danger.... but he really shouldn't be peeing into the water like that either!

 

As soon as I reached the shoreline part of the trail, I started seeing all sorts of day hikers, and every time I passed them, I'd joke, "I'm searching for the North Sea. Allegedly... it's around here somewhere. Have you seen it?" They would usually laugh and say, "Actually, uhh... no, we haven't. I can hear it, though!"

Then I'd joke some more, "I think it might not exist. My guidebook has been telling me that the North Sea has supposedly been visible for the past three days, and I have yet to see it even once! The North Sea might just be a giant conspiracy theory!"

Anyhow, the trail continued following the coast line for several more miles before entering the small town of Robin Hood's Bay, a very hilly and cute town overrun with tourists. After descending a steep slope, I finally reached the shore of the North Sea. The tide looked very low--it looked like I would have to walk several minutes around some tidepools to get to the actual North Sea. Argh! If only I had arrived at high tide, I wouldn't have had to walk so far. Oh, well....

John and I walked out to the very end of that shelf stretching out into the sea.

While heading out, John from "Seattle" suddenly came up from behind me and passed me. Strangely, he didn't seem to notice me until I said, "Hey, John!" I last saw him back in Kirkby Stephens and wondered where he might be.

We started walking together. The shoreline was a bit jagged, with one particular rocky shelf stretching out much further than the rest of the shore, and John wanted to call it quits when he reached the water, but I encouraged him to keep going--saying it didn't count unless he walked out as far as he possibly could into the North Sea.

That wasn't true, of course, but it sounded good and kind of was how I felt about it. Go until you physically can't go any further! But he did it, and at the very end of the world, he looked back at the town and was genuinely surprised at how far out we had walked into the sea. I'm sure there are times when the tide gets even lower, but it was really low. I can't imagine most people see it at this extreme.

Anyhow, John pulled out a small pebble that he had picked up from the beach at St. Bees. The tradition is to carry a rock from St. Bees to here, then throw the stone into the sea. I had no intention of carrying a stupid rock--I've done that several times before and had nothing to prove. I once carried a substantial bag of heavy rocks for a few miles just so I could spell out a 3-digit mile marker.

John pulled out his rock, preparing to throw it, when he fumbled it and it almost fell into the North Sea with a pathetic plunk. Noooo! It just missed the edge, though, and John picked it up. He had me take some photos with his camera as he hurled it into the North Sea as far as he could.

Dipping my shoes into Robin Hood's Bay. Both the town and the body of water next to it are called Robin Hood's Bay.

 

We took photos of each other for each other, then started walking back to the shore. Along the way, we ran into another hiker who John knew but I had never met before. They chatted for a minute or two before she continued walking to the end of the earth and we continued back.

Near the shore, his wife was waiting for him, so he introduced me to her and we headed to the Bay Hotel, which actually marks the "official" end of the Coast to Coast Trail. There's a sign in front of the bar for hikers to take their photos with.

A nearby table was full of other hikers who had just finished the trail and were drinking a pint. I didn't know any of them, but John seemed to know at least some of them. It's funny how we can hike the same trail at roughly the same time but meet up with completely different sets of people. =)

There were some non-hikers seated at the table with the "end of the Coast to Coast" sign, but the woman sitting under it seemed to realize that she was in a bad place and every hiker arriving into town wanted a photo of themselves with that sign. She was happy to lean toward the left and make space for the endless parade of hikers taking photos.

Officially at the end of the trail! Just ignore the poor woman just to the left of this photo who kept having to lean over to get out of every hiker's photo.... I actually would have been okay if she was in my photo. Just makes the photo more interesting that way with an interesting story!

 

John and I headed into the bar to order drinks. John said that they gave a half-pint of beer to everyone who finished the trail. I knew this about the Pennine Way, but I was actually surprised to hear about this on this trail. I hadn't heard that before, and my guidebook didn't mention anything about it. I wondered if it was true that both trails gave away a half-pint at the end, or if John heard about it on the Pennine Way and didn't realize that rule didn't apply to the Coast to Coast. I really wasn't sure!

The Coast to Coast was a shorter trail and a lot busier--the cost to give out a half-pint on this trail would be significantly higher than the Pennine Way! And on the Pennine Way, they gave out free completion certificates. (I still carried mine with the name "Brian Carpenter" written on it!) They had completion certificates here as well, but you had to pay extra for them.

But in any case, I wasn't interested in the beer. I already tried some at the end of the Pennine Way and that was enough for me. I would just order a Coke. =)

One of the other hikers nearby insisted on paying the bill for my Coke, though, which was very generous and unnecessary. He was one of the hikers I that I literally just met a few minutes earlier! John ordered a full pint of beer, and he seemed certain that one half of it was free for completing the trail, but I still find myself wondering if they didn't charge him for the full pint. Except for John saying so, absolutely nothing I saw or heard would make me think that the free half-pint applied to the Coast to Coast route.

In any case, it wasn't something I needed to worry about. I know for certain that my pint of Coke wasn't free! Not even half of it!

While ordering, another hiker who I did recognize showed up--Julie. She's the person who passed me two consecutive days in a row while running the trail. I didn't know her name until John told it to me. I was signing the register in the hotel and handed it off to her when I finished. Then we headed back outside to the table with the other hikers where everyone shared their war stories from the trail.

One area of discussion was that torrential downpour that lasted a little over an hour. John said he had gotten drenched. Others had managed to miss it, like I did, when they waited it out at a cafe along the trail. And others were like John who just suffered through it.

We sat around chatting for an hour or two when the group finally disbanded. Most of them were heading to lodging somewhere in town. My hostel was located about a mile south of town, along the Cleveland Way. The Coast to Coast had overlapped the Cleveland Way for a day or so, then they separated, but they reunited again on the walk into Robin Hood's Bay and while the Coast to Coast Walk officially ended there, the Cleveland Way continued down the coast to.... I actually don't know! 

The youth hostel where I stayed

But my hostel, I knew, was a mile or so further down that trail, so that's the direction I headed. It provided some great views of Robin Hood's Bay! And in just a couple of hours, the tide was noticeably higher than it was when I had first arrived.

I checked into the hostel where I took my first shower in a week, then went into the bar and restaurant and ordered a pepperoni pizza for dinner, wrote in my journal and figured out what I was going to do tomorrow.....

I mostly hung out in this bar and restaurant area figuring out plans for tomorrow and writing in my journal.

Even the spiders had to deal with the condensation on their cobwebs!

Allegedly, the North Sea is out there somewhere! This was actually the best photo I could get of it until I reached Robin Hood's Bay.

Monument for shipwrecked mariners in Robin Hood's Bay.

The Bay Hotel

Day 14: All Aboard the Hogwarts Express!

August 7, 2024: I slept well, but everything was super wet in the morning. No rain, but lots of condensation both inside and outside of the tent. I was surprised by the amount of condensation in the tent--that was the first time that happened with this tent! It wasn't enough to form puddles or anything like that, but it left everything wet like my sleeping bag, pack and even electronics like my phone and Kindle.

You can see the sun trying to break through the thick fog, but it failed.

 

But I packed up and hit the trail relatively early since it was supposed to rain later in the afternoon and I wanted to get in as many miles as I could before that started. I know, I shouldn't even look at the weather forecast, but it was an addiction. I couldn't help myself. Hope for the best, but plan for the worst! I hoped things would be sunny and clear all day, but I was planning for rain--especially later in the day when the forecast showed that's when it would arrive.

There was a tiny bit of sun in the morning, directly overhead, while I walked through the thick fog, but even that little bit of sun didn't last. Those few minutes were very rejuvenating, though! The last couple of days with the endless fog and wet had been very demoralizing.

Most of the day, the trail followed roads. Several miles were along paved roads, but--fortunately--the majority was along gravel and dirt roads that were easy, flat and fast to walk along.

While entering the town of Grosmont, there was a bridge with a sign saying that the road was closed due to a "police incident." What the heck did that mean? Clearly, cars could not go over the bridge even if they wanted to, but were pedestrians allowed? That was unclear.... nothing said that pedestrians weren't allowed, but it also didn't say that pedestrians were allowed either. 

That's just for cars, right? Please let that not apply to pedestrians!

 

I puzzled over this for about 10 seconds. I was going to cross that bridge. Mostly because I had absolutely no idea how long it would take for me to find a walking route that crossed a bridge somewhere else. It's not like I could walk an extra hour or two out of my way just to get across the river! So I started heading over the bridge.

In the middle of the bridge, I saw a giant chunk of the wall that kept cars on the road had fallen off and into the river. That must be the reason the bridge was closed. A local couple who were out for a walk came up behind me about half a minute later and told me that a car had driven off the bridge earlier in the week and landed in the river. The driver (probably drunk or high or a teenager or something) was rescued and was largely fine and the vehicle removed from the river, but the damage to the bridge had yet to be fixed.

We looked over the side of the bridge into the creek maybe 50 feet below. "And the driver survived? Really?" I said. He must have been pretty lucky!

I continued walking into town and came across another surprise, another hiker! Well, there were hikers all over the place, that wasn't particularly surprising. But I knew this one--he was the very first hiker I met on my first day on this trail with the fancy Texas-style cowboy hat. The last time I saw him was on the second day, just before the day with the biblical rains. I half expected him to quit because he seemed to really be struggling even before that storm, so it was somewhat of a surprise to run into him again.

He, however, was positively astonished when he recognized me. He assumed that I was far ahead. Of course, he had no way of knowing that I had taken three (!!!) zero days trying to avoid rain, which did put a dent in my miles. =)

He told me about his adventures (and misadventures) on the trail, and that he had almost decided to quit the trail, and that one night he slept under a bus stop or something, but managed to keep going. Now he planned to finish the trail today (today?!), or at least before 8:00am tomorrow morning when his family was planning to drive out to pick him up. 

Knowing how far away the end of the trail was, this seemed like a rather ambitious goal, especially since it was already after noon and he had hiked quit a bit this morning. If he succeeded, he would arrive at Robin Hood's Bay well after sunset. Possible, but not fun!

I said something about being impressed--I didn't think I could do 15+ miles this late in the day. He seemed a little taken aback by that. "It's that far away?"

"Uhh... yeah, I think so."

I didn't know precisely how far it was, but it was definitely a full day of hiking for me. If I tried to get there today, I'd have needed to complete about 32 miles from where I camped last night. He hadn't camped as far back as I did, but it still would have been a solid 20+ miles for him--which was a lot.

But, as he told me, he was meeting his family at a specific time early tomorrow morning so that was the goal he had to hit. He would camp under another bus shelter if he had to, he told me. 

Then he insisted on taking a photo of us together, somehow enjoying the symmetry of running into me on both his first and last day of hiking, but not really anything in between. =)

We walked the rest of the way into Grosmont together, only another 5 or 10 minutes, then parted ways. He had the end of the trail to reach! I, however, needed a break. I had walked non-stop since leaving the Lion Inn and my feet were throbbing! 

Plus, it was lunch time, so I stopped at the Station Tavern where I ordered a ham and cheese toastie and two pints of Coke. While eating lunch, I was able to charge my battery packs, use the wi-fi and make a trip to the toilets.

I stopped at the Station Tavern (in the building on the left) for lunch and just to rest my weary feet.

 

The wi-fi was particularly useful since I planned to finish the trail tomorrow but I had no lodging in Robin Hood's Bay. So I wound up booking a bed at the YHA hostel just south of the town and now had a confirmed place to stay tomorrow night. I still had no idea where I would spend tonight, but I supposed I could also sleep in a bus stop like my English cowboy friend in a pinch. =)

In all, I spent about 1.5 hours taking a break, during which time, the sun even came out a little bit--much to my surprise and despite all weather forecasts.

A part of me wanted to take advantage of the sun and cut my lunch break short and keep moving, but, alas, I was actually waiting for something. At 2:30 in the afternoon, the Hogwarts Express was expected to arrive.

The Hogwarts Express has arrived!

There are a few steam engines that run train routes through this area, and they are "headquartered" in this town. If you check the schedule--which I did--you can see working steam trains coming through town pretty much every day. I had even considered riding one to a nearby town to a cheap hostel for the night and ride it back in the morning tomorrow, but I really wanted to get more miles in today and ultimately decided against it.

However! I still wanted to see the steam train. And, while you might have thought I joked about waiting to see the Hogwarts Express, these were the actual steam trains used in the Harry Potter movies. It was the original Hogwarts Express! 

I had a view of the train station from my lunch table and could see the train when it chugged into town, and as soon as it arrived, I paid my bill and dashed outside to get photos and videos. The train stopped at the train station for perhaps 5 to 10 minutes, then chugged onward back out of town. What an incredible machine! It seemed like the entire town showed up to watch it pass through, with a hundred people milling around watching the spectacle.

After the train left, I wasn't quite ready to leave town. Like I mentioned before, Grosmont was actually the "headquarters" for these steam trains and they opened the machine shop for visitors to check out, which was located on the far side of the oldest railroad tunnel in the world.

A nearby sign explains that this is the oldest railroad tunnel in the world. Obviously, it's no longer used for rail traffic, but it claims to be the first tunnel in the world that was explicitly built for trains to use. (There's a tunnel just to the right off the photo that is used for rail traffic now. It's much larger than the original tunnel, but less historic!)

The railroad tunnel is no longer used for trains but is now a pedestrian path to the machine shop, so I walked through the tunnel and checked out the shop which had several steam trains that were currently not running. I didn't see any work being performed on them, but the place was hopping with tourists looking around at everything. I also looked through the gift shop but didn't see anything that drew my attention enough to make me want to carry it to the to the end of the trail!

Finally, after exploring all the railroad history in the town, I continued the day's hike at around 3:00pm. The fog came back, and the rest of the day's hike was eventful albeit dreary. However, despite the weather forecast that called for rain, no rain ever happened. So yeah! =)

And this is the machine shop for the steam engines.

My goal for the day had been to end up somewhere near Littlebeck for the night, and I wound up finding a nice place to wild camp in an empty field about a half-mile before that. The ground was more sloped than I thought when I set up the tent so I sometimes found myself sliding down to the end of it and needing to pull myself back to the uphill side. It was definitely an annoyance but not the end of the world.

Tomorrow, I hoped to reach the end of the trail. I did check the weather forecast, however, which--sadly--showed rain for the whole day. *sigh* Well, let's hope that forecast is bad as all the others! I'll find out tomorrow!

One of my favorite trail snacks was salami and cheese from a tube on a tortilla. =)

This town seemed to have some sort of fancy car show going on. There were probably a hundred of these fancy cars in this town!

This is the coal chute where coal is loaded into the steam trains.